I am currently reading the Eisenhorn novels and something shocked me...

Especially in the 3rd book, the main character parries bullets with his sword (Barbarister?).

According to the rules (RT and/or DH), how could he do that? What am I missing?

Oh simple,

Being a character in a fiction novel instead of being a character in a balanced RPG.

now thats funny, i though about the same thing last night...

Quote: "Being a character in a fiction novel instead of being a character in a balanced RPG. "

As posted in the "Unballance Game" Post of my friend, RT is not meant to be ballanced, since its up to the GM to ballance the game (especially in combat)

Back to topic: Since Eisenhorn is a really badass and has over 100 years of experience we might see this skill coming in the actuall Inquisitor game. (Sorry i forgot the name). You could allow this skill as a elite advance to meele loving lvl 8 chars.

Levyten

Sorry, just came home from a 10 hour shift, no, I think it will be in Ascension...

Rank 8 DH character, while strong are still no big fish....those characters in the Novels are....

I haven't read the novels yet but if he only does it once I would say it is an extra ordinary feat.
If a player can allready parry arrows and primitive bullets I would allow him to parry other things IF it adds to the story, drama, coolness, by spending a fate point.

Keep in mind that it is fate points what elevates the pc's from the countless massess, it makes them special...

He's a psyker. End of argument...

The Catch Projectiles power with extra flair?

Okay, didn't know that...

Graver said:

Or certain divination powers could also help in this. I mean if you know EXACTLY where the bullets are gonna come from three seconds later it's not that hard to put your sword in the way fast enough, provided that you are a skilled swordsman.

Varnias Tybalt said:

Then you just need to hope that your sword doesn't shatter when the bullets hit it.

Bilateralrope said:

A poor quality sword might shatter (poor quality swords tend to be either too soft or to brittle). But after having seen a katana fixed to a vice grip split bullets shot from a machinegun firing at the edge of the blade, I'd say that as long as you have that window of opportunity (i.e knowing exactly where the bullets will be coming from thriugh supernatural powers) there's a very likely chance to be able to parry them with a sword.

And according to the book, Barbarister is an insanely good quality sword from Carthae. Probably of even better quality than the highest grade katana.

Besides: rule of cool, everyone! My job is just to make the rule of cool seem a little more plausible.

Varnias Tybalt said:

It also do help that Barbarister is a pcychic active weapon responding to his innate abilities and assisting him, it is stated multible times that Eisenhorn feels that the sword fights with a will of its own rather than being controlled by him, he simply holds the blade.

There you go, you can parry bullets if you have a psychic sword that's capable of reacting to incoming threats at the speed of thought.

ie. a Daemon Weapon. A sword with a will of its own... THATS IT! EISENHORN IS A RADICAL WHO USES CHAOS! BURN HIM!

Oh wait... that was the point of the books...

Zarkhovian_Rhythm said:

Yeah that was a bit wierd with the Cartheans and their swords. I mean heir swords show clear tendencies of having a will of their own, why didn't the Inquisiton object to this as witchcraft?

Because they're friggin' awesome, that's why! But seriously, the book does allude to the blade having a will of its own, but it doesn't communicate in any way other than humming, from what I recall. That sounds very much like your standard force weapon to me. Perhaps all Cartheans are psychically active in a minor way. Seems plausible to me.

Konphujun said:

Yeah, but so are daemon weapons (and if you don't believe me, check out the Devil may cry-series for Playstation 2 and Playstation 3 and you'll see what I mean ), yet daemon weapons are considered abominations by the majority of the Inquisition, and any Inquisitior using them is considered a radical.

Inquisitorial bastards with their cheeky double standards. One psychically active blade is OK to use, while the other (and in my opinion a hell of a lot cooler) isn't.

Oh and speaking of daemon weapons being cooler, check out some info on Abaddon the despoiler. He's got a daemonsword known as "Drach'Nyen" and it is wicked enough to cut the very fabric of reality apart. How cool is that!?

Varnias Tybalt said:

Because they do it by beiing forged as part of a ritual of the Imperial faith. Same as the Inquisition doesn't call the Adepta Soroitas Witches for thier faith powers.

Dahak said:

Nor do they call out the Grey Knights to kill off the living saints like they would any other demon host.

Just like how they denounce the warp all and all things to do with it as tainted/corrupted and unclean while praying to a god of the warp (the emperor).

Or like how they treat psykers who are soul bonded to the emperor as scum who need to be watched closely and killed as soon as something odd happens. You would think the zealots would have more respect for those people, being soulbound to their god and all but.. nope.

Could it also be that Eisenhorn is a full inquistor who is also a psyker? Or it could be just becaues he is a high level psyker. In the Ravenor novels, the character of Patience Kys (a telekine) is able to parry bullets with her kineblades.

All the same, the idea of parrying bullets is very daft indeed and if it doesn't actually break suspension of disbelief it most assuredly stretches it to that point and requires rather a lot of justification for even a one-off feat. The sword won't break though, bullets have a lot less energy than most people realize; using the sword 'normally' puts far more force on smaller sections of the blade and swords are pretty flexible (otherwise they break, probably dealing horrific injuries to the wielder).

Very daft? Suspension of disbelief? You're new to 40k, aren't you?

I present: The Exorcist www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp

That's a weaponised organ mounted on a battletank. The organist launches missiles by playing the right hymns.

Back on topic, Eisenhorn is a psycher with a sentient sword. He could probably parry a bad idea with that thing.

No, I know some of the personalities involved in creating it. :¬)

It remains very daft even if I can easily tear the entire 40K universe to shreds in terms of believability and clear breaches of the laws of physics. I tend to think that when you do something which is 'impossible' you want to make it big with a nice fluff explanation and not have too many of them. Parrying bullets is ridiculous, travelling space by means of a 'telepathic beacon' and travelling through Hell is visionary. ;¬)

Or.... (Now just bare with me ) The bad guys just rolled crappy and the DM decided to give a little color to the 'miss' descriptions.

There's two ways to do it. The boring way. "The Cultist misses." *snooooore* And the not so boring way. "The Cultist fires off a volley but with a shuddering clang you parry the bullets away." No super elite talents or munchkin weapons needed.

Or the not boring but still not ridiculous "The Cultist opens fire with his automatic weapon but clearly is not skilled enough to control the bucking and kicking recoil, spraying rounds everywhere but where he wants them to go as you easily duck behind some light cover"

Remember that your ability to not be hit is about moving and taking cover, not someone shooting three inches to the left of your head.

Its a hold over from the old Inquisitor Skirmish RPG mini-game. Basicly its an ablity to not be faster then the bullet, but the person shooting the weapon. You put the sword in the path of the bullet, angle it so that fragments blast away or to the side. Add the power of a psyker to read thoughts, and he could probuly detect the thoughts of others to shoot him and from where.

You could give the players ablities like that, but they could be something of a special trait you would have to make up. I suggest looking at it in the old Specialist Games Inquisitor Rule book avalible for free online at their website.